Blue Metropolis 2015 and some photos of 2014

So that's it. A few weeks of down time, and 2014 is crossed out. A new Festival is now in the works.

For 2015, the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival takes place from April 20 to 26, 2015. 

We already have a number of authors confirmed and a few exciting projects in the works.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone for making 2014 a raging success. The 16th edition of Blue Met involved 233 events in 9 languages with the participation of over 100 authors from 15 countries. For Blue Met produced and co-produced events, as well as events produced by our partners, we maxed out at 32,000 visits for Festival-related events. Wow!

More importantly, we increased the attendance of hotel-based events by a whopping 35%!

Those are great numbers, people!

What I always say, though, is that we can never really rest too comfortably as the pressure is on to top 2014 by an even more successful 2015.

Now a few photos:

Writer David Foenkinos and Rene Homier-Roy in conversation at Librairie Gallimard

Zombies at Bedtime Stories, our sold out fundraiser, Lion d'Or

Metropolis Azul winner Luis Alberto Urrea in conversation with Writers & Company's Eleanor Wachtel, Grande Bibliotheque

Michael Enright & 2014 Blue Metropolis Grand Prize winner, Richard Ford, Grande Bibliotheque

Blue Met 2014!

Thanks, everyone, for making Blue Met 2014 such a success! We sold out many events this year, had increased attendance overall but particularly in our venue hotel events. Some highlights included Heather O'Neill and Shelagh Rogers, Ondjaki and Paul Kennedy, Richard Ford at the BAnQ, Bedtime Stories, Slate Culture Gabfest, David Foenkinos at Gallimard and our Tribute Alice Munro.

Now we have to do it again...looking towards 2015!

We were in the office yesterday and will be shortly today, as well, but then we're out the rest of the week so please be patient if it takes a week or so to get back to you.

Also note that I am away all of next week and most of the following week. So if you have ideas, suggestions, comments, complaints, let's discuss in June.

:)

The Walrus Talks: more tickets made available!

Great news! The SOLD OUT Walrus Talks event has released ten more tickets to Blue Met, but you have to move quickly! The Walrus Talks this year features Alix Ohlin, Al Rae, Lisa Moore, George Elliot Clarke, Zoe Whittall, Josip Novakovich and Shelah ROgers. The them is State of Mind and the event as at McCord Museum on Sherbrooke Street at 2pm on Saturday, May 3. Get your tickets now and secure your spot! Click here to be directed to the buy now page at La Vitrine.

Newfoundland writer, Lisa Moore, at The Walrus Talks!

Richard Ford, Kevin Barry, Josip Novakovich: Blue Met 2014

Dutch edition of Canada

When Richard Ford confirmed his presence at the Blue Met 2014 back in the fall, I was considering some way  to work in setting to one of his events because it seems to be such a key part of his writing. And not just the setting in one particular novel but the fact that his novels have such a variety of settings (Saskatchewan and Montana, New Jersey, Mexico, etc.).

Then when we nailed down the participation of Irish writer Kevin Barry I knew I had the way in because Barry's work, too, is wedded to place in very unique ways. Unlike Ford, Barry sets most of his books in Ireland though it might be contemporary Ireland or a vague near-future Ireland. Barry is an interesting writing and is one of those rare fiction authors who can make you laugh out loud, not only at one his neurotic protagonists think and feel but at the hum-drum but also bizarre situations these protagonists find themselves in. His short story collection, Dark Lies the Island, was so well done that after I finished it (in almost one sitting), I flipped back and re-read it (most of it, anyway), something I almost never do.

Irish writer Kevin Barry

Josip Novakovich is a writer whose career is just plain interesting: I saw him  years ago at Blue Met (before I ever had any idea I would work here!) when he launched his book April Fool's Day and I had not heard of him before then (this was probably 2005 or 2006). I got his book and read it over the next few weeks and was mesmerized by it. Then he did a small collection with Snare a few years back called Three Deaths which, again, really impressed me (that small publishing house managed to publish some really great stuff in its short run). For Novakovich himself, place is key to his writing as he's noted in interviews as well as in his most recent book, Shopping for a Better Country.

Ford, Barry and Novakovich will be at Hotel 10 in Salle Godin on Sunday, May 4 at 11:00am to talk about how place informs their writing. Hosted by Slate Magazine's Stephen Metcalf, the event is sure to be one that will be a highlight of our Festival this year. The event tickets are $15 and can be bought here. This one will definitely sell out so don't wait too long!

Structuring Landscape: Ford, Barry, Novakovich      (photo credit here)

Marquez, Matthiessen, Macleod. And The Walrus Talks at Blue Met 2014

It's been a sad couple of literary weeks with the passing of Marquez and Alistair MacLeod. In all honesty, I wasn't terribly familiar with MacLeod's work though I've read much of Marquez's work. Neither had written anything new in years so I suppose their passings represented slow declines.

But the death of Peter Matthiessen was one that bummed me out. I only discovered him in earnest a few months ago, actually, when I read Nine-headed Dragon River. I was so fascinated with that book that I went out and found Snow Leopard. Both of these books made a deep impression on me both for the writing but also for the voice of Matthiessen, how his protagonists (though one was a journal, so it was really him) were "men of their time" at the same time looking at issues of universal significance. So they were both of their times but also in other ways timeless. I heard that he had a new work coming out and it seemed his new book came out at the same time they were announcing his death. I was in Vermont over the weekend and did see it in several shop windows, though I didn't get a copy for some reason (I am in book overload mode and can't bear to buy any more books until after the Festival is over, I supposed). But it's at the top of my summer reading list. Though he was in his late 80s, I love that Matthiessen was still working and did much of his best work well past his 50s and 60s.

At any rate, back to Festival promotion...

With one week left before the Festival starts, we have about 10 days before The Walrus Talks event. Last

year this event sold out before the Festival began and this year the tickets are going fast. But there are still 20-25 left. It's a great concept: novelists, poets, thinkers, journalists and (this year) even a comedian all come together and talk on a topic. This year the topic is States of Mind and the event features Alix Ohlin (Giller short-listed for her novel Inside), Lisa Moore, Madeleine Thien (Dogs at the Perimeter, one of my favorite novels of recent years), Al Rae, Shelagh Rogers, George Elliot Clarke, Zoe Whittall, and Josip Novakovich (short-listed Booker International nominee). This will be a fascinating afternoon with ideas we can take away and ponder. Several times over the last year, various people have said something about last year's Walrus Talk, something someone said, an idea brought up (the theme was Building Bridges which is an issue constantly on Montrealers' minds).  The Walrus Talks event is on Saturday, May 3 at 2pm at McCord Museum. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here.

CBC and Blue Met

This year, as every year, CBC plays a major part in our Festival. Some of Canada's best-loved broadcasters and literary/cultural journalists come and record their shows live at the Festival. Here are some CBC events to consider adding to your list of Blue Met activities:

Mark Lavorato and Serafim & Claire

Paul Kennedy and Historical Montreal: this year in Montreal, three local writers have all published books set in a Montreal of the past. Mark Lavorato (Serafim & Claire), Elaine Kalman Naves (Portrait of a Scandal), and Susan Doherty (Hannaford) will be on-stage to talk to Paul Kennedy about the history of our city and what it's like to research and write a book set in the past. Lavarato's book is a novel and explores a Montreal of the 1920s through the dual lenses of class and love. Naves' book considers a shocking 19th century trial which had the city mesmerized. And Doherty's novel considers a young boy who finds refuge in his music. This event is on Saturday, May 3 at 1:00pm at Hotel 10. It will be recorded and then used as part of Kennedy's immensely popular Ideas series. $10. Get your tickets here.

Paul Kennedy is back again with one of Africa's writing stars, Ondjaki. Granta

Angola's Ondjaki, one of Africa's Top Five Writers

called Ondjaki one of Africa's Top Five writers and his books have been widely translated into many languages. Ondjaki is here to promote his new novel, Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret which is a comic romp set in Luanda, Angola's capital city (translated by Stephen Henighan and published by Biblioasis, one of Canada's funkiest and most innovative publishing houses). Kennedy speaks to Ondjaki at Hotel 10 on Saturday, May 3 at 8:00 pm. Get your tickets here.

Jeanette Kelly talks to three women writer who all have books that explore how women survive trauma. From Ann Charney's war refugee and migrant in Life Class to Elise Moser's young protagonist who's witnessed a horrific murder in Lily & Taylor to US writer Koethi Zan whose book, The Never List, was a publishing sensation and best-seller in Europe. Kelly talks to the three writers in an event called Women Writing Trauma, Writing Survival at Hotel 10 on Saturday, May 3 at 5:00 pm. Tickets are here.

American Koethi Zan

Of course, our two big CBC events at the Grande Bibliotheque continue to sell very well: Eleanor Wachtel and Luis Alberto Urrea (winner of the 2014 Metropolis Azul prize) on Saturday, May 3 at 6pm. Tickets here. And Michael Enright at the Grand Bibliotheque with 2014 Literary Prize winner Richard Ford (4pm). Tickets available here.

Blue Met 2014: Not to miss events!

Here are a few not to be missed events as part of Blue Met 2014: sales are moving briskly along one week after our official press conference.Yes, some events are already sold out! But before we announce those, here are a few events that are selling well and will certainly sell out in the next week or so.

Luis Alberto Urrea: the winner of our 2014 Metropolis Azul prize will appear on-stage at the Grand Bibliotheque, 475 De Maisonneuve East on Saturday, May 2 at 6:00 pm. CBC's Writers & Company's Eleanor Wachtel, discussing Urrea's award-winning novel, Queen of America, and his non-fiction which explores the fraught & highly complex relationship between Mexico and the United States.

Urrea's book, Queen of America, is fascinating. Set in Mexico and US of the late 19th century, Urrea tells the tale of a young woman with one foot in the mystical world ("the most dangerous woman in Mexico," she is reputed to be) who sets out on a dangerous journey (avoiding would-be captors and murderers) to define who she is.

A highly lyrical writer, Urrea is an original voice though one can certainly hear vestiges of classic Latin writers in his approach, straddling as he does the world of the rational with the world of the mystical. This event will definitely sell out so don't hesitate! Tickets are $15 (and there are still a few days left to take advantage of the reduced rate promotion!)

Get your tickets to see Luis Alberto Urrea and Eleanor Wachtel here.

Carolina De Robertis will talk to Shelley Pomerance on Friday, May 2 at 7:00 pm at Hotel 10, 10 Sherbrooke Street West. De Robertis is a writer who has written two amazing novels blending history and women's lives in very moving ways. A big fan of her first book, The Invisible Mountain, I am personally very excited that she will be here meeting our Festivaliers. Each year we're thrilled to bring some big stars to our public, but in some ways I get even more excited about writers who I want our audience to love, writers they may not yet know.

The Invisible Mountain tells the story of three generations of women, again straddling the mystical, and in the process, tells the history of the tiny and beautiful country of Uruguay. It's through Uruguay, in fact, that I discovered De Robertis: a visit there a number of years ago put that land on my radar and I have been very interested in it ever since.

Her latest book, Perla, gives us a glimpse into a young woman's possible breakdown and/or interaction with a ghost from Argentina's Dirty War. I can't give away too much, but the book shows us what happens when a country (when a family, when a person) goes over "to the dark side" and how those scars linger for years and years to come. Tickets are $10 (another few days take advantage of the reduced rate promotion!)

Get your tickets to see Carolina de Robertis and Shelley Pomerance here.

Both of the above events are part of our series on Latin America at the 2014 Festival. Check out the entire programme for more details (Latin America programming is on page 23 of the attached PDF).

Finally, History and Family Lore are on the docket when Urrea, local writing sensation, David Homel, and African novelist and poet Ondjaki get together to consider the stories we're told growing up. Urrea's Queen of America is loosely based on his own family's histories and the life story of his great-aunt, Teresita (read about her real life story here). Homel chronicles Chicago bootleggers of the 1920s in his new novel, The Fledglings (stories which were based on his grandmother's tales growing up). And Ondjaki's novel, too, Grandma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret, is based on stories from and about his grandmother in Angola's capital, Luanda. This event is on Saturday, May 3 at 3:30pm at Las Americas, 2075 St-Laurent (just one block away from our venue hotel, Hotel 10). Tickets are $10 and the promotional rate (which offers a discount from this price) expires early next week!

Hosted by Anne Lagace Dowson, you can get your tickets to see Urrea, Homel and Ondjaki here.

Finally, I have to announce that the Slate Culture Gabfest event is sold out! But you still have a chance to be part of the Slate experience as there are still a handful of tickets left for the Slate We Love Montreal Happy Hour at Bily Kun, 354 du Mont-Royal Est on Saturday, May 3 at 5:00 pm. They're going to go fast, though! Tickets are $20 and include a free drink.

Get your tickets to Slate's We Love Montreal Happy Hour here.

Slate Magazine in Montreal!!

Slate Magazine's super popular Slate Culture Gabfest is one of our Festival highlights this year.

Stephen, Dana and Julia will all be here to discuss some of the most interesting cultural events of the past week and with some connection to Montreal and Canada.

Hear the hosts talk about the upcoming show and rave about Montreal (Julia hangs out with far more interesting people than I do) on their latest podcast episode.

Whether you're a podcast aficionado and have many queued up on your iPhone or whether you're new to podcasts, check the episode above out (also available on iTunes): they talk about the film Noah and some recent television news.

Slate will be doing two events at the Festival:

On Saturday, May 3, the hosts of the podcast welcome you to Bily Kun in the Plateau for a 5 a 7 in one of the coolest bars in Montreal. For a mere $20 (drink included), you can have a private chat with the hosts, meet other Slate fans, and be a part of this rare opportunity at the podcast's first international event. You can buy tickets here.

On Sunday, May 4 at 2pm at Hotel 10, they record the podcast live at the Festival. This one's gonna sell out so move fast! Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here.

Richard Ford wins Blue Met's 2014 Grand Prize

We are very happy to announce that American writer Richard Ford has been awarded the 2014 Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prize. The prize, awarded since 2000, is given each year to a writer of international caliber. Past winners include Paul Auster, Marie-Clair Blais, A.S. Byatt, Margaret Atwood, Carlos Fuentes and others.

Ford is most recently known for his 2011 novel, Canada, which is set on the high plains of Saskatchewan

and tells the story of a young man whose life is overturned when his parents are arrested for bank robbery. It's a moving novel that shows how resilience is built into our characters, the will to survive and roll with the punches when life takes an unexpected turn.

Ford's earlier works include Independence Day, The Ultimate Good Luck (one of my personal favorites) and short story collections Rock Springs.

Richard Ford will be a part of three major events at the Festival:

On Friday, May 2, he will be interviewed on-stage at Chapters/Indigo at Montreal Trust by Fiona Downey. This event starts at 6pm and is free!

On Saturday, May 3, he will be on-stage with CBC's Michael Enright at the Bibliotheque Nationale on Maisonneuve downtown (at Berri-UQAM station). This event starts at 4pm and will include the awarding of the prize and an interview to be broadcast on CBC. Last year this event sold out before the Festival even started so get your tickets early to guarantee a spot. Tickets can be purchased at La Vitrine.

IMPAC/Dublin winner Kevin Barry

Finally, on Sunday, May 4 at 11:00am, Ford will appear with Irish writer Kevin Barry and Montreal writer Josip Novakovich at an event hosted by Slate Magazine's Stephen Metcalf: Structuring Landscape. With writers like Ford, Barry and Novakovich who all set their books in specific places that figure large in their work, the conversation should be interesting: from the plains of the prairies to pre-break up Yugoslavia to Ireland of the future. Tickets are available at La Vitrine.This event will be held at Hotel 10 in downtown Montreal.

Finally, Ford will be one of our featured readers at a very special event, A Tribute to Alice Munro. Ford, along with several others, will read an excerpt of a story by Munro as we celebrate this Canadian icon of the short-story. This is our official closing event on Sunday, May 4 at 4pm. This event will be held at Hotel 10 in downtown Montreal. Tickets will go fast for this one and can be purchased at La Vitrine.

Most Festival events (many are free) range from $7 to $15; or you can get an all-Festival pass for $65! These passes go very fast though (last year they sold out two weeks before the Festival!) so move quickly.

For the entire Festival program, go to the Blue Metropolis website and click on Festival!

A Tribute to Alice Munro, Sunday May 4 at 4pm

Blue Met 2014 Literary Prize: Canada’s Literary Prizes

As far as literary prizes go, one of Montreal's biggest international prizes is the Blue MEtropolis International Literary Prize. Every year since 2000, we've awarded the prize to some of the most beloved writers in the world. They include such luminaries as Norman Mailer (2001), Mavis Gallant (2002), Carlos Fuentes (2005), Joyce Carol Oates (2012) and Colm Toibin (2013).

So who's gonna win for 2014? This year we had a long list of nearly 100 writers from all over the world. After deliberations, discussions, arguments (some heated), we were left with this respectable short-list:

Haruki Murakami: perennial Nobel prize nominee. One of Japan's biggest names (writer or otherwise). His books have been made into movies. He writes about running. He loves Cutty Sark and Miles Davis. He has his finger on the pulse of what's happening in contemporary Japan, a point of view we often don't have access to in Canada so readily.

Richard Ford: he should win just for naming a novel Canada. The

audacity of it, especially since it's about bank robbers. But in addition to books set on the high plains of Saskatchewan, he writes about New Jersey hooligans, traveling in Mexico and mid-life crises. Plus he's a real gentleman as about 25 people who've met him have told me. A real southerner who hasn't written about the south in a long time (someone recently told me he used to teach Richard Ford short-stories at "Old Miss," trying to instill a sense of pride in young southerners about one of their own.

Barbara Kingsolver: environmentalist, historian, complex creator of stories that straddle the personal and the political. Kingsolver is an under appreciated talent. Sure, she's made money off her books. Sure, Oprah digs her. But that almost undercuts the seriousness with which she she spends months and even years researching, writing, dedicating her life to her craft. She's written to me twice (on paper, mailed with stamps), kind and heart-felt letters that thanked me for inviting her to the Festival. I have four hand-written letters in my office from authors and two are from her. And when she's not crafting amazing novels like The Lacuna (personally I adore this novel), she's mentoring younger writers and putting her money where her mouth (or pen) is by supporting important environmental causes.

Eduardo Galeano: OK I have to admit that I have had a soft spot in my
heart for Galeano since I was a young man backpacking through Latin America. Long before the late Hugo Chavez handed over a copy of The Open Veins of Latin America to Barack Obama on a state visit (turning Galeano into that kind of leftist writer though he certainly is a certain kind of leftist writer). He's the kind of writer whose book you keep in your backpack for months at a time, dipping in and out of it, alternately moved, tickled, shocked, appalled, and knocked over. 

One of these amazing writers is going to be awarded our 2014 Blue Metropolis International Literary Prize and he or she will be announced at our official press conference next week: April 2, 2014 at 11:15 a.m. at Hotel 10 in downtown Montreal.

In addition to the prestige and hearty handshakes, the winner will receive a check for $10,000 and first-class travel to the Festival, in addition to a rocking glass-engraved trophy!

Blue Met 2014

We're almost there! On Tuesday, April 2 at 11:15 am, we release the entire program for Blue Met 2014. The press conference will be held at Hotel 10 in downtown Montreal.

We have so much exciting stuff on our roster for this year's Festival: authors, events, prizes, special projects. It's really going to be a stellar year for us.

Stay tuned!

David Foenkinos at Blue Metropolis 2014

All our hard work is coming together and we have finalized our 2014 program. It's now in the hands of designers, printers and poster-makers so things now shift into high-gear...

As a reminder, our 2014 festival dates are April 28 to May 4 at Hotel 10 in downtown Montreal. We have More than 230 events with writers from all over the world!

We can announce today that French writer David Foenkinos will be one of more than 100 writers at Blue Met 2014. Foenkinos' most famous work in English is Delicacy and it's a short if humorous and haunting work about love, grief and starting over. It was made into a 2011 film starring Audrey Tautou. His other work that has been translated into English is called The Erotic Potential of My Wife which dates from about 10 years ago.

Though not as well known in the Anglophone world, he's practically a household name in France so he is certainly one of our 2014 headliners. Most of his events will be in French at the Festival, part of our series on some of the best French writing from France today.

More on that in the coming weeks.

If you read French, check out his latest: La tete de l' emploi and, of course, his last book, Ja vais mieux which was a run-away critical and commercial success in France. And stay tuned for all the details about his (as well as the 230+ other) events!

We launch the official program and all the details become public at our press conference on April 2, 2014!

The countdown begins...

Got a story to tell? THIS REALLY HAPPENED at Blue Met 2014!

We are still accepting submissions for the next TRH at Blue Met on May 2nd!

The theme of the evening's stories is LOST IN TRANSLATION: stories about misunderstandings, miscommunications, and good ol' broken telephone. We want to hear about when you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, when you misheard the most important word in the sentence, or when you thought your neighbour was flirting with you when he was just being friendly.

All stories are told without notes and are meant to be told in an intimate and casual way. Stories should be a maximum of 6 minutes long.

If you are interested in participating, please submit a short summary of your story to: trh@carte-blanche.org by February 28th. And listen to past stories on carte-blanche.org!

2014 Blue Metropolis Literary Festival

Great news today! First, we've confirmed a very big star for 2014. We are all very happy around here because this writer will be a major highlight for our 2014 Festival.

Mysterious writer confirmed for 2014!

Mark the dates! Our 2014 Festival will take place April 29 to May 4, 2014 and, yes, will be held again at Hotel 10 in downtown Montreal.

So far we have two writers confirmed and about 185 to go!

Hint #1 about big name 2014 writer: this writer doesn't write in English...